On the streets of Widnes and Runcorn, new housing estates keep emerging. These steadily expanding rows of new homes are increasingly controversial among the people living amongst them.
“I think the main thing around here is we’re getting new houses, but we’re not getting new infrastructure,” said Lewis Bennett, 32.
“So, we’re going to be flooded with new people, but we haven’t got shops. We haven’t got doctors. And we haven’t got dentists for them.”
It is not opposition to housebuilding itself. Instead, it is a feeling repeated across Widnes and Runcorn that development is outpacing the services needed to sustain it.
Across Halton, housing is no longer just a planning issue. It has become the lens through which voters interpret everything else, including public services, local decline, and trust in those in power.
Concerns over a lack of schools and increasing difficulty getting a doctor’s appointment are already felt by some residents here, and as regeneration projects flourish, the concern is that circumstances will only get worse.
In Runcorn’s Halton Lea, one of the borough’s largest regeneration projects is already underway, led by the Riverside Group. The long-term scheme will deliver hundreds of new homes while replacing older housing, and is expected to take years to complete.
Alongside this, Halton Borough Council has backed regeneration across the borough, linking new housing to wider economic investment in Widnes and Runcorn. But on the ground, the reality feels different.
Mr Bennet continued: “Just stop worrying about getting people living here and just focus on the infrastructure. It seems to have gone more downhill, vape shops, charity shops, mobile shops. There’s nothing here anymore.”
“I’ve not seen any improvements”
That frustration increasingly shapes political alliances. For a borough comfortably dominated by Labour for decades, dissatisfaction is no longer hard to find.
“I actually voted for Labour in the last election, and I’ve not seen any improvements since,” said Lewis Bennett.
Another voter added simply: “Labour hasn’t done enough.”
Anne Doherty, 70, was more direct in her criticism: “Runcorn is in the pits,” she said. “Labour is not for the local people.”
For some, the reasons for their changing allegiance runs deeper than specific current council policies and is about a shift in long-standing political identities within their families and community.
“I’m a lifelong Labour voter, I’ve always voted Labour”, said Ross Mason, 36, from West Widnes.
“But for the first time in my life, I won’t be voting Labour. They’ve just lost my confidence completely.”
The Reform rhetoric: housing, pressure and blame
On the Kingsway Housing Estate, Reform UK’s campaign is hard to miss.
Leaflets are posted with urgency, small clusters of campaigners moving street by street with quiet efficiency and a shared sense of purpose. Among them are loyal supporters and first-time candidates, drawn into the party’s growing presence both nationally and locally.
At the centre of it is Reform UK Halton branch chair and candidate for the Central and West Bank ward, Jonathan Mackie, speaking confidently about what he sees as Reform UK’s growing foothold in Widnes.
Support, he suggests, is no longer emerging but embedded, particularly following Sarah Pochin’s by-election win in Runcorn and Helsby.
But the reception is not as certain as Mackie suggests.
As campaigners moved through the estate, one resident heckled, a sharp reminder that the support he describes is not universal.
Yet Mr Mackie confidently anticipates a 14-seat gain from the 18 seats being contested.
And for Reform candidates, housing sits at the centre of that message.
Dressed in a suit with a Reform UK badge neatly pinned to his chest beside a small Union Jack, candidate Dylan Eaton presents a deliberate display of identity as campaigning continues.
“My policy is to make sure that housing’s the main priority because at the moment it’s a mess,” said Mr Eaton.
His own experience shapes that campaign.
He said: “At the moment I’m living with my parents because I’m not able to afford getting on the housing ladder, and I’ve tried and I can’t get on it.”
For Mr Eaton, the issue is not just the number of developments, but who he believes is being prioritised.
“You’ve got this government who’s allowing these illegals to go on housing lists first before the ones who’ve been living here for years,” he said.
He claimed to have been shown a list by Ms Pochin. “When I saw that list, I just thought it was disastrous,” he said.
But official data does not support that claim.
Halton Borough Council states that asylum seekers cannot apply for social housing and are not placed on council housing waiting lists.
Instead, they are housed separately through accommodation arranged on behalf of the Home Office, with no access to local authority housing systems.
Mersey News Live has also found no evidence that asylum seekers are given priority over residents.
The contrast reflects a wider divide in Halton’s housing debate between local pressures and national narratives.
HMOs and pressure on communities
Few issues generate stronger reactions than Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).
The central and West Bank ward has seen protests from its tightly knit community against any new HMO developments, after being a prime spot for them in recent years.
While there is a shared feeling that HMOs are not good for Halton, not everyone agrees on the cause or the solution.
Mr Mackie insisted Reform would stand against any plans to build HMOs and would actively campaign for the closure of current HMOs that are causing issues in local communities.
Green Party candidate for Halton Lea, Joshua Bell, offers a different perspective.
“I would certainly stand against HMOs, but not for the reasons Reform UK would stand against them,” he said.
“I feel like Reform UK are probably going to unfortunately, use this as an opportunity to attack immigrants, like, ‘Oh, look at those immigrants moving into this one closed space,’ when actually we should be fighting against the system that pushes people into housing so that they’re barely got any living space.”
Labours defence
Labour, which has controlled the council for many years, reject claims that they have failed on housing.
Labour Leader, Councillor Mike Wharton, provided a statement to Mersey News Live, saying new planning rules had already been introduced to tackle HMOs.
It said: “Last year, we backed an immediate Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights for anyone looking to turn a house into a small HMO.
“We share the concerns people have about HMOs and been just as active in working with housing providers like Halton Housing to see new housing schemes and more affordable housing. “
He added that the council continues to invest in housing and services.
“The Council has defended front-line services for local people, keeping essential services running throughout many years when the Tories were slashing funding to the Council.”
Yet as HMOs remain a feature and new-builds prepare to welcome their residents, local people continue to ask whether the borough’s services can cope with increased demand.
The unavoidable question has become not just how many homes are being built, but who they are for, and whether the people of Halton are being left behind.
For a complete list of candidates standing in Halton May 7th see Mersey News Live’s election explainer.
